Once More
by Dareagon
Summary: Fred Weasley died. There was no denying that. And then he was born again. Apparently. The difference with his last life couldn't be bigger. And he still wasn't sure what he thought about having a new twin… Drabble-ish fic!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Katekyoshi Hitman Reborn! I just wish I did.

Beta: the lovely **Midnight-Kitsune11**.

Warning: KHR and Harry Potter knowledge required. This fic is drabble-ish, meaning that I didn't write everything down to the last details, these are just some scenes I came up with and wanted to share with you.

If some scenes or details are missing, please just assume they happened like they did in canon. I won't describe these scenes in detail! Also, I moved the KHR timeline forward so it would fit the story! (Just so you know.)

Also, this can be considered crack-ish (especially towards the end…)

You've been WARNED!

This story is complely written and will be posted everyday for a week.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS! This is my present to all of you! XD

 **Once More**

Why? Of all the bad luck in the world, why did _this_ kid have to be his twin?

He'd had a perfectly good twin before. One who liked the same stuff as him, who loved laughing, having fun and making other laugh and even one who didn't mind crossing the lines now and again.

One who had meant the world to him.

This kid was soft, shy and squeaky. Scared of everything, including the rat-sized dog that lived next door. He had to be forced to go outside to play, didn't even seem to like playing.

He sighed.

If only he hadn't died.

Reincarnation was a bitch.

Seriously.

He had died, fighting the good cause. Though he probably should have been paying more attention at the time, but it wasn't everyday your boring, always sticking to the rules older brother tried out his sense of humour for the first time in his life. Bad timing, really…

It had been a shock.

Dying, that is.

And it had been over before he realised what had happened.

Being reborn, as in reincarnation, was not something he had believed in before.

Not something he had ever imagined, especially not without his twin.

Magical twins were rare. Only two or three pairs were born every century. Bonds like that were barely documented, but it had meant the world to him. To be that close to someone. It was a gift.

He had not thought he would have ever have to give that up. Even in death.

They'd had a scare when his brother had lost an ear a while back, but this… this was different.

He didn't have a bond like that with this new kid.

Good, because he didn't want to. He would never replace his once-twin.

Remembering what had happened once-before hadn't been easy. It had taken him a while to realise what his weird magical dream and equally magical nightmares meant. Waking up screaming as a five year old after dreaming of dying wasn't easy. Not on either him or his small family.

He had a small family now. That was new. He'd never had that before. He's used to lots of people in too small a space, all trying and fighting for some attention. Five brothers, one sister, and their parents and it was loud and chaotic and he loved every one of them. Sure, most of them had moved out over the years, even he had done so with his twin, but they were never too far away. They always had time for each other.

Now he had a father he could not remember, who was off into the world doing who-knows-what for his job. If he was still alive, because their mother had told both now-twins that 'Papa was off being a star'. Which could easily be interpreted as: he's died and gone to heaven, or he was trying to become a music star or something, and didn't want his ordinary family weighing him down.

Hideyoshi (and yes, that was his name now) wasn't sure which it was, but neither option made him like the man even a bit. His once-father had been very busy with his job, often having to pull all-nighters and coming home exhausted, but even then he made time for all his children. He came home after every shift, and only now did Hide (Hideyoshi was such a mouthful) realise how much he had taken that for granted before.

His now-mother… she was sweet and kind and was a queen in the kitchen, and she clearly loved both her kids fiercely… but honestly ..., and he didn't want to be rude about it, something was definitely wrong with her.

Sawada Nana made Luna Lovegood seem like a normal person.

She was so absent-minded all the time that he was surprised she hadn't lost her children before today, or her head. She lived from day to day and didn't seem to really hear other people when they talked to her. Like the day they started kinder garden. His now-twin had begged and cried not to go, and she hadn't paid him any mind, had dropped them both off and they had both gotten a pat on the head before she had left. Their teacher had spent the next half an hour taking care of his now-twin, trying to calm him down.

And his twin… well, he still wasn't sure what to make of the kid. Having had a once-twin made the situation difficult for Hideyoshi. On one hand, he longed for such a relationship again. His whole being ached for it. Having lost it once, it hurt like hell, even now. On the other hand, no one could ever replace his once-twin. No one should have ever had to. He still wasn't sure what he thought about having a twin now, another one. It might have been easier if they had been brothers, him and Tsuna, instead of twins.

And how in hell was he the youngest of the two?!

Tsuna was tiny, a pipsqueak really (never mind that they were completely identical, except for their hair colour – Hide's was bright Weasley red). He screeched like Hide had never heard before (and he had been around mandrakes before!).

Big brothers were supposed to take care of their little brothers; that was what his own once-big brothers had taught him, and sure, his once-twin had always been more of a big brother to their remaining siblings than he had been but he had tried! Their little brother didn't need it anymore once they all went to school, and their little sister hadn't wanted or needed it. Ever. That's what happened when you grow up with six brothers.

Tsuna, however, shied away from him. Merlin, the kid could barely talk to him.

Their house was big, much too big for only three people. There were four or five rooms, not including the one the twins were still sharing and their mother's room and, if he wanted, Hide could build a pillow fort in the living room that could fit his whole once-family if they had been here.

It did make him wonder what their father's job was to make enough money to afford this, since their mother didn't work.

One thing he knew, that comforted him and helped him adjust to this change, was that magic was real.

He remembered it from once-before. He had had it his whole once-life. He had never lived without. So … Shouldn't he have noticed if it hadn't been there? Sure, he would have noticed the difference now… Right?

And their so called-grandfather had used magical flames on his now-twin. During the one visit from their father he could remember. Quite a while ago now…

So magic had to exist.

But he was in the muggle world. Not even sure if this still was the same world as once-before, so Hide had no idea if there even was a magical world here, and if there was, he had no idea where to look in Japan to find it and he couldn't exactly go to England to check. (Though he had to admit those airplanes were really fascinating. He couldn't wait to try them out. And yes, he realised he sounded like his once-father now.)

He was stuck in Namimori. At least until he could gather enough money together for a plane ticket (when he was old enough to travel, of course. His mother might not be all there, but she still wouldn't let him make such a journey alone at eight years old).

However, that meant no wand. And no way of getting one…

No way to check if he still had magic.

He was about eight years old now. He frowned thoughtfully. Could he find a way to make accidental magic work like regular magic? Once-before, it was possible for children to have bouts of accidental magic in emotional situations. Not every time, it was pretty random, but it did happen.

He remembered accidentally transforming Ron's teddy bear into a spider when they were kids…

He could try that.

Nothing to lose after all.

Maybe he could even try some potions… Potions had always been a passion of his. George was good with charms, he was good with potions. He had none of the more exotic ingredients (or magical) but he could try out some of the beginners potions? Like a wiggenweld potion, or a sleeping draught. Those were pretty simple to make.

Nope, maybe not wiggenweld potion. While very simple to make, something told him that most of the ingredient would be very hard to find in the muggle world. Like unicorn horn, or boom berries or even a mandrake. Stupid.

Still, hope brewed in his heart.

He might just be able to make this work.

He spend the next school-less day first shopping for ingredients. Their mom gave both twins some pocket money each week (not much but it was something) and he spend at least an hour in the supermarket before he realised this wasn't where muggles sold things like valerian roots.

He cursed, and promptly entered the first plant store he could find.

Not good, they only sold flowers and decorative plants. No roots, no whole valerian plants either.

There were a lot of pretty flowers, in lots of colours, but right now, that wasn't what he was looking for.

He did ask the nice lady at the counter for help and she gave him directions to the nearest garden centre.

It was well after midday when he finally got home. He was still small, so he hadn't been able to get all he wanted. He couldn't carry all that. He had recognized several plants in there that he could use in the future, but he had focused on the ingredients of the sleeping draught first.

He could always go back when he got it to work.

If he got that far. He had no idea where to get Flobberwurm mucus in this now-world, but he had a few ideas for substitutions…

The herb mix which made up the standard ingredient in all potions was easy to make and they already had some lavender in the garden.

He still needed to wait however. The valerian plant was small and thus was probably still very young. Probably too young to harvest yet. He'd need to wait until either fall or spring to start harvesting…

He grit his teeth in frustration.

He never had been good with patience.

He planted the valerian plant in the garden, in a sunny spot.

And then, since he had nothing better to do, he went to the library.

Now, to be clear, Hide had never been someone who enjoyed spending hours in a dust covered library to read and look up information.

Not now, and not before.

However, that did not mean that he didn't recognize the need or appreciate the information he did find.

Turned out muggles had lots of different subjects in their libraries. He found a whole section on plants and their healing properties. Who would have thought?!

The science section would come in handy as well, especially if he wanted to make substitute potion ingredients. He would need to come back to study both these sections in detail.

There were a lot of different sections, one bigger than the other, but he was shocked to find a shelf on … magic? Muggles had books on magic?!

His excitement died quickly, however. The section on magic and fantasy (as they called it) was laughable. He knew he shouldn't have gotten his hopes up but this was useless. He briefly touched a book that mentioned reincarnation, but that was a bust as well. No real information and theories so vague they didn't mean anything.

He's not sure why he kept looking through this shelf.

Really, a book on candle rituals that need to be performed during various stages of the moon cycle? Really?

How did Muggles get these crazy ideas?

He did see a book about the witch hunts in passing and it made him raise an eyebrow. They had learned about that once, at Hogwarts, but the whole thing had seemed like joke. From their perspective, the hunts had been a funny anecdote, nothing too important. He and his once-twin had a lot of fun after those lessons in school thinking of possible ways they could have escaped the Muggles if they had been around at the time. Just for fun. No real witches or wizards had been hurt after all.

Their old textbooks had never mentioned how many muggles had died, though.

There didn't seem to be any exact numbers, but even the estimates were sickening…

He put the book away and wandered through the library after that, trying to find something else to read, to take his mind of off what he just read.

Finding the history section, he pulled out a general world history book (the size that Hermoine would have thought of as some _light_ reading) and started leafing through it.

That was eye-opening…

In a not-good way.

This is even worse than the witch-hunting book. He could feel himself get physically sick when he read about the world wars.

Both of them.

And the countless, millions of casualties…

Was this really the same world? He had never heard of anything like it. The second world war would have happened at about the same time as Grindelwald's rise of power.

Had those Muggles wars happened at the same time and was Wizarding kind just so ignorant to not know about it?

He honestly wouldn't put it past them, but he had to put the book away to prevent getting sick.

He had only ever been in one battle (before) and it had killed him but compared to what he had just read, what he had been through didn't even come close enough to compare the two, and the battle of Hogwarts had been brutal.

He didn't want to imagine the Muggle wars…

He didn't get any sleep that night.


	2. Chapter 2

He shot awake with a strangled scream.

Even as he grew up, he couldn't escape from his nightmares.

His eyes widened.

This wasn't possible.

George?

His once-twin sat beside him on his bed, smiling almost wistfully.

Was he still dreaming? Was this just another nightmare?

He kept dreaming about dying…

He raised a shaky hand, only for it to go right through his once-twin.

He hadn't cried since before he remembered being once-before, but now tears of sadness and frustration welled into his eyes.

The image before him wavered and then George leaned over and gently held his hand.

Somehow, now they were able to touch each other.

Hide really did burst into tears at that.

"A-are you real?" he asked desperately.

George threw him an incredible look. "Seriously? It's been almost a decade since you died, and now you've shrunk and you don't look anything like us anymore! But I'm the one who might not be real? You died, Freddie!"

And now they were both crying…

His once-twin looked almost exactly like Hide remembered him, if a bit older. Down to the last Weasley freckle and his missing ear.

"Are you dead too?" Hide whispered softly, not sure he wanted an actual answer.

George shook his head. "No, you left me behind."

"I didn't mean to!" Hide cried out. "Besides, I'm not dead anymore. I mean, I remember dying, vividly, but … it's been a while."

"You look so different. If not for the bond we still share I might not have recognized you." George snorted. "I'm obviously dreaming."

"That makes no sense! If you were dreaming, wouldn't I look exactly the same as before?" Hide reasoned with a frown.

George blinked in shock before frowning as well. "True, why _do_ you look like some Asian brat?"

Hide sighed. "Not sure. I got born into a different family here, even with a different twin." he grimaced and looked unsurely at his once-twin. "I started remembering about my old life a few years ago, but I'm still not sure what happened to make this happen."

"What? Another twin?" His once-twin exclaimed in shock.

Hide nodded. "Yeah, but I wouldn't believe it if we weren't identical twins. He's nothing like me, like us! He's a crybaby, he's always scared of everything, he doesn't talk to me, or want to play with me…"

"But he's your twin?" George interrupted with a raised eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. Even now, he knew his twin well enough to not let him get enough steam to rant.

"Supposedly." Hide muttered, feeling defensive.

George snorted. "It's funny, you used to complain in the same way about Ron when we were little."

"I did not!"

"Yes, you did."

Hide turned away from his amused twin.

"Can you at least assure me you aren't bullying the kid?"

"Of course not!" Hide exploded.

The light in the hall turned on. They could see it shining from under the door. Hide panicked, and shooed his twin away before diving back under his covers.

His door opened and he knew Nana was checking up on him. When she left, he got up and looked around.

"George?"

His once-twin was gone.

He sighed, having expected that even if he had hoped to be wrong, and laid back down.

Knowing he wouldn't get much sleep now, he simply stared at the ceiling, deep in thought.

George had given him something to think about.

It's only at the start of their first day of middle school that he realised what he missed about his twin. Ever since his talk with George (he still wasn't sure that had really happened. How had that happened?), he'd been paying more attention to Tsuna.

Something about him had been bothering Hide, like an itchy feeling trying to point something out and he had been too stupid to realise what it was.

The person who Tsuna reminded him most of.

It wasn't Ron, or any of his other once-siblings but the dark-haired little boy he had helped on their first day of school. The boy who was twitchy and shy but bloomed open as they all accepted him as part of their family.

Harry.

Tsuna had never really had that family that supported him, but he had a family none the less, whereas Harry had been an orphan.

The realisation hit him like a kick in the gut.

Their father had visited exactly three times that he could remember, their mother loved them, obviously, but she was so airheaded she didn't notice these things. And Tsuna's younger twin… had been a bitter mess, trying to deal with memories of once-before. Hide had actively been ignoring his brother, the contrast between his once-twin and his now-twin was so big it left him aching just looking at Tsuna.

No more.

Hide steeled his resolve. He had never been one to mother his siblings, so he wouldn't hold Tsuna's hand and guide him where he thought was best. He had resented that in his once-mother so he could never do that to someone else but that didn't mean he couldn't help the kid.

He stood behind Tsuna as the teen tried to hide in the door opening of their new classroom. There were already a lot of kids in the room, loitering about. Homeroom hadn't started yet, so most were talking to their friends.

Did Tsuna have any friends? He had assumed he had them in primary school but seeing his little brother try to become one with the doorpost took that hope away. Fast.

Hide himself was friendly with almost everyone, but he couldn't recall any of their names and he certainly didn't consider them friends.

He stood next to Tsuna and eyed the room. Usually he would hurry to one of the empty seats in the back, but there were two adjacent desks by the window, more to the middle of the room. So he gently took Tsuna's hand, ignored the visible body flinch from his twin and gently pulled him towards the seats. He gave Tsuna a push towards the chair by the window and dumped his own bag on the desk next to him.

Tsuna eyed him with wide eyes, but let Hide manhandle him into his new chair.

Hide shot him a large smile. "You ready for this?"

Tsuna hesitantly smiled back, and frantically shook his head.

Hide rested his chin in the palm of his hand and grinned at the kid.

Hideyoshi felt nervous, which was very unlike him but even if Tsuna had barely spoken to him today, Hide had taken the first step. He had made a decision, and he was going to stick to it. No backing down now.

He knocked on the door. After years of passing it without so much of a glance, now he stopped and knocked.

"HIEEE!"

He blinked in disbelief at the sound and the noise that followed it, like something big had fallen on the ground. Unable to help himself, he took that as permission to open the door and stick his head in the room. He raised an eyebrow at his twin who was groaning in pain on the ground next to his bed.

"Did you seriously get spooked enough to fall out of your bed?" He couldn't help but ask.

"What?! You…! I… Why…?" His twin spluttered. "What?!"

The eyebrow raised higher. "Are you usually this well-spoken or did you hit your head on the way down?"

"What are you doing here?" Tsuna managed to say as he picked himself up from the floor.

"I live here." Hide was still leaning against the door while peeking inside the room.

"I m-mean in my room."

"I'm not. In your room I mean, technically I'm still in the hallway." He smiled brightly at his twin like the little shit he was. "Speaking of which, may I come in? Because this is getting really uncomfortable, really fast."

"Sure." Tsuna sat down on his bed and rubbed his hands nervously while avoiding direct eye contact.

Hide ignored his twin's unease and sat down on the bed with him. Not speaking just yet, he looked around the room. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. Then again, when had he ever been in the room of a non-magical teen? It looked better than the room Harry had been locked in during the summer, but it was nothing alike at the same time. All the furniture seemed to match, like his originally did. Hide himself hadn't been able to keep looking at it, so he had painted them different colours as soon as he physically could.

Clothes were lying on the floor and Tsuna's desk was riddled with paper – homework maybe – and there were lots of manga on the bookshelf.

It really was very different from his own room, what with the bright colours, his plants everywhere and his science/potion equipment.

Seemed quiet boring, honestly.

"So, why are you in my room?" Tsuna asked. "You never come into my room."

"You never come into my room." Hide replied.

Tsuna frowned at him and Hide sighed as he explained. "It's just, we're twins, right? But we don't spend any time together. We don't know anything about each other. I can't even remember if we ever slept in the same room, we don't talk, we never spend any time together."

He shrugged.

"You never seemed to want to spend time together." Tsuna seemed to shrink in on himself.

Hideyoshi had to suppress a wince at that. He knew that was true. He had been doing his utmost best to avoid Tsuna as much as possible. He'd had his reasons, even if he could never share them with anyone. On the other hand, he could never remember a time where Tsuna had ever sought him out and he probably remembered more of his childhood than ordinary people.

"I can say the same about you."

Silence fell, and Hide grabbed his courage before the silence had a chance to become awkward.

"But that's in the past! I've decided that we should at least spend some time together! Get to know each other. So… um… Do you have any friends in school? Because I didn't see you talking to anyone today in class?"

And hadn't that been bothering him all day?! He hadn't bothered with Tsuna for years, and now suddenly he didn't seem able to stop paying attention. All because the kid had briefly reminded him of Harry? They were not the same person. Harry had quickly come into his own at Hogwarts so the comparison ended quickly after that.

But, again, no backing down now.

Tsuna had been watching him with wide eyes, but turned away in… was that embarrassment? Well, that answered that question.

Hide scratched his cheek sheepishly. "No judgement here. I don't really have any friends either."

And wasn't that a startling revelation? Sure, he hadn't really felt the need, he was fine on his own now. The absence of his once-family had been so devastating, he hadn't even considered friends… He had adapted, and even if the loss still hurt, he had learned to be by himself.

Tsuna threw a quick glance at him and seemed to calm down a bit, but still didn't say anything.

Hide fought the urge to sigh in either aggravation or disappointment. He had never been good with shy, silent people. Oh, he did handle them; by grabbing onto them and dragging them whatever way he felt like going. It might not be the ideal way to go, but it was the only way he knew.

So…

"No matter, no matter, what do you do for fun around here?"

Tsuna briefly hesitated as he starts talking, but grew more enthusiastic as Hide unleashed his hidden muggle-loving fanatic (thanks you, once-father, for that loving piece of his personality) at the introduction of video games.


	3. Chapter 3

Bonding with his twin was surprisingly easy, once he opened his mind to the idea.

"You skipped school again?" Hide asked as he walked into Tsuna's room.

"HIEEE!" Tsuna shot up from his bed. His gaming console clattered on the ground.

Hide couldn't help but grin. This again, huh?

"Don't scare me like that! Why don't you ever knock before coming in?"

"Because then I don't get to surprise you." Hide grinned broadly. "Well, aren't you supposed to be at school?"

"Aren't you?" Tsuna muttered with a pout.

"Too true." Hide replied without remorse. He fell down on the bed, laughing as Tsuna squeaked in protest as he fell on his twin's legs. "Mario cart?"

"Sure." Tsuna smiled at him.

And their bonding time it was surprisingly fun as well.

"You really shouldn't put that in." George said mockingly.

Hide sighed in fake irritation. Every once in a while George appeared around him. His strange magic was doing this, he was sure of it but he hadn't found a way yet to control it, so his once-twin popped up at random. Sometimes twice in the same day, sometimes he wasn't around for weeks.

"Shut up. I know what I'm doing."

"No, you don't~" The elder redhead sang cheerfully.

"Yeah, I do."

Ghost-George (because he was still see-through and touching was still a strange issue that they hadn't figured out yet) had shown up about five minutes ago, while Hide had been in the critical stages of his experiment. It was the fifth time he would try to make this crème based on valerian roots now, and he really wanted to get this right. Tsuna was still being bullied at school, even if Hide brought down chaos and destruction upon the culprits (he pranked the hell out of them) so his twin still came home with bruises from the other kids when they were 'too rough' as the teachers explained it away.

It was disgusting that everyone thought they'd keep getting away with hurting his brother like that.

"You really shouldn't." George said seriously before he dove for cover.

Which was stupid and overly dramatic, because he was a weird ghost apparition.

Hide snorted at the older man's dramatics and dropped the root into the small pot he had on a bunsen burner on his desk. He opened his mouth to mock George, but didn't get to say anything as the concoction exploded in his face.

He blinked in shock for a few seconds after it was over and reached for his face. He wasn't in pain, so that was something. He raised his hands to his face to determine the damage.

Very dirty, but no blood at first touch. He still had a nose, which was always a good sign. Being nose less probably meant you had to become a villain at some point, but Voldemort might be an exception and not the rule there.

Huh?

No more eyebrows?

Well, he could live with that. If he really had to. This wasn't exactly the first time, but still.

George, being the helpful bastard Hide had always known him to be, started laughing so hard he couldn't keep upright.

And of course that was the moment Tsuna burst into his room, while nearly falling over himself.

"D-did something explode?" his new-twin screeched, before pointing at George in a panic. "And who the hell is that!?"

Wow, he knew Tsuna could screech, but sheesh… This had to be a new record of some kind.

His once-twin just continued laughing hysterically on the floor.

Hide sighed.

This would take a while to explain. He had brought up the idea of telling Tsuna everything with George and his once-twin had been all for it. Still, it wouldn't be an easy explanation, and Hide had hoped to start it with Tsuna being calm and happy.

Not on the verge of a panic attack.

Hide took a deep breath, kicked in the general direction of George's head and motioned to Tsuna. "If you come in, and this one can shut up for a moment, I'll explain."

Tsuna eyed them warily, and George was struggling to regain his breath while leaving his comfortable place on the floor.

As expected, explaining this whole reincarnation business took a while. Tsuna was very sceptical.

"Magic? Really?"

"How else do you explain this one?" asked Hide as he waved his hand through George's head.

His once-twin looked very amused. Tsuna … less so. He still seemed doubtful.

"I want to believe it, really, but…" the brunet shrugged.

Hide adopted a thinking pose, before an idea popped up into his head. He jumped up from his chair, away from his desk-in-now-desperate-need-of-cleaning and bounced towards his windowsill. There he gently picked up the flower/plant he had set there earlier to bask in the sun.

He brought it over to both his twins, George raised an eyebrow while Tsuna looked in shock at the dancing orchid. It had two branches of red flowers with yellow accents (Gryffindor forever!) and it had originally been a plant his mother had given him for his birthday a few years back.

Nana adored that her youngest son loved plants so much, and while true that he did enjoy taking care of them it hadn't been something he had started doing because he loved it. Most of his plants were for harvesting potion ingredients.

Still just the fact that Nana was conscious enough of him to actually pay attention to what he did, and buy him a gift accordingly, meant a lot soo he had treasured the little orchid, feeding it and even trying out his new magic on it.

It had come alive and whenever it was happy it started dancing from happiness. It had started seemingly at random but Hide had tested some theories, and now he knew what set it off. Being in the sun, putting on some cheery music or even talking to it were usually enough to make it dance.

Tsuna gently petted the plant, gently stroking over the leaves, and it visibly preened under the attention.

Tsuna laughed in stunned delight. "That is amazing, I wish I could do something like that."

"What are you talking about? Of course you can!" Hide asked his twin stunned.

Tsuna shook his head. "I really can't."

George scratched at his head. "That isn't possible. There has never been a pair of twins where one could use magic but not the other."

"I-I just don't remember ever doing anything like that. Anything that could be magic."

Hide stared at him blankly. "Seriously? You don't remember?"

"What?" Tsuna asked defensively.

"I've seen you do magic. One time." Hide thought back. "Actually it's because of what I saw that day, that I started testing if I had magic in this life as well."

"What?" Tsuna asked completely gobsmacked.

"Tell us about it." George half-asked, half-said.

"Well, it was that one time Dad actually came home? Do you remember that? He'd brought that old man with him. I'm not sure exactly what happened but at some point they took you inside and your head was on fire but it didn't seem to hurt you at all. Don't you remember that?"

"N-not really." Tsuna muttered as he scrunched his face in concentration.

Hide frowned. "Maybe… that old man had the same flames, and he and dad seemed very interested in you afterwards. Do you think they might have done something?"

"I don't know, I can't actually remember that." Tsuna panicked a little. "Do you think so?"

"Hmmm…" Hide hummed thoughtfully. "Well, maybe. I mean, I don't remember you being clumsy when we were kids. Shy, sure, but not this uncoordinated."

"HIEEE!" Tsuna startled, tripping over thin air and he crashed into Hide's desk, knocking his potion concoction over.

Hide grabbed him by the back of his shirt to haul him away before he could get some of the ruined potion on him.

"My point exactly. You do seem to be getting worse the older we get."

Tsuna groaned in reply. He had managed to knock his head against the desk, even if Hide had prevented worse.

Hide really needed to get his potions in order. Tsuna could definitely use some bruising paste…

Either by figuring out substitute ingredients, or …

He eyed George thoughtfully. Maybe it was time to face the big questions here. If he was still in the same world, maybe George could send him some of the original ingredients? And if that didn't work, at least he would finally know that there was no way of getting in touch with his family.

Well, Tsuna and George were probably never going to become BFFs, like they said these days, but they were both making genuine efforts to get to know each other. It was easier for George in some way, because he had always had younger siblings. He was used to sharing.

Tsuna reverted back to the shy kid he could be when faced with strangers. It was harder for him, because not only was he now suddenly having to share his twin, he had to get used to the whole reincarnation business, but he seemed to honestly want to get to know George.

It warmed Hide's heart.

And it also made Tsuna work harder at his atrocious English. Even if George seemed fluent in Japanese (and did Hide detect a translation charm there?) he still occasionally switched back to English. Sometimes just for a word, sometimes a whole sentence. Hide didn't think he did it on purpose. He had to watch himself as well when Tsuna was around to not start talking in English.

Hide yawned as he closed his bedroom door.

The problem with playing such a prank on his twin was not to convince their mother to join in on it, but it was that he himself had to wake up earlier than usual to make this believable.

He paused mid yawn.

Yep, those were Tsuna's panicked screeches as he fell down the stairs.

Poor kid. He might need to put some more thought into his pranks when they happened so early.

This was hell. Why did he think it was a good idea to wake up early, just so Tsuna would think he'd overslept and arrived 'late' at school?

He descended the stairs only to stop halfway down to stare in shock.

Was that an actual baby threatening his twin with a gun?


	4. Chapter 4

Hide stayed halfway up the stairs to hear what all the fuss is about. A home tutor? Really? And a baby at that?

Sure the way the toddler spoke was way too advanced for his age, but it was difficult to take such a small guy with a squeaky voice seriously… At least Flitwick had looked his age, despite being so small.

Tsuna didn't stay around to chat though and rushed to school a whole hour early… Oops? Well, it had been meant as a prank anyway… No take backs, after all and while Hide was curious about the baby that followed after Tsuna, he wasn't awake enough to follow as well and he went into the kitchen to eat breakfast.

When he did get to school (on time, instead of early like Tsuna), it was to hear the other students talk and laugh loudly at and about his brother. Hide frowned at that. Tsuna had shown up at school naked? What?

Hide spent most of his day trying to calm Tsuna down but the other kids kept laughing at him, and the baby popping up at random times didn't help.

Mochida showing up and challenging Tsuna to a duel was just the cherry on top of the cake.

Honestly, the number of people he would be pranking tomorrow… It would be a long day, but they deserved it.

Still, somehow the baby (Reborn? What kind of name was that anyway?) convinced his twin not to run from the challenge. Hide was baffled as to how the kid managed it.

So, Tsuna actually showed up at the gym, Hide right next to him.

Miraculously Tsuna won the fight. Even if he did a complete personality switch to do so… Which was… new, to say the least. And only slightly disturbing…

It was on the way home that Hide, to try and lighten the mood, started teasing his twin. "So, I heard you finally confessed?"

Tsuna turned bright red.

Hide laughed. "Good for you, but if I may offer a suggestion: next time, keep your clothes on."

"That wasn't even my fault!" Tsuna exclaimed.

Hide laughed again and even Tsuna managed an embarrassed smile.

They met with Reborn the baby in Tsuna's room and waited for the baby to talk.

And wow did he talk.

"So, to summarise: you're here to turn Tsuna into some powerful mafia boss?" Hide asked sceptically. "I mean, you sure he's the right kid? This goody-two shoes? He freaks out when I want to prank the kids that have been bullying him for years!"

Tsuna raised an eyebrow, looking just as sceptical. "And yet, despite my opinion on the matter, you continue to prank them."

"I'll stop when they do." Hide shrugged casually.

Tsuna looked up at the ceiling, as if asking for patience. Hide grinned in amusement.

"So, anyway," Hide asked Reborn when the baby didn't reply to his question. "Whose idea was it to pick Tsuna for the job? I mean, if we're that far related to the first boss, we can't possibly be the only ones."

"Your father was the one who-" Reborn started to say.

"You mean he's still alive?!" Tsuna blurted out, before clasping his hands before his mouth in shock.

"Excuse me?" Reborn asked stoically.

Well, it certainly looked like their boring little life was over.

After years of being alone, Tsuna started gathering a small circus of friends faster than Hide can keep track.

First was the albino transfer student who went from hating his twin to worshiping the ground he walked on. The change was so sudden it gave Hide whiplash. The kid acted like a bloody dragon guarding her nest and while Hide had seen nesting mama dragons with his Fred-eyes, this kid was becoming very territorial, very fast.

Too fast…

While it was hilarious (and also more than a bit deserved) when Albino boy was acting that way around their other classmates, who have never done anything to help Tsuna, it stoped being funny the moment the kid tried to do the same to Hide.

True, Tsuna and him hadn't been very close since long, but both twins had worked very hard to get where they are today, despite all their issues and there was no way this mafia kid that Reborn had brought with him was messing that up.

So Hideyoshi nipped that attitude in the bud as soon as the bomber (Goku-something, right?) started.

Goku-chan snarled at him, teeth bared, while blocking Hide's view of Tsuna when Hide flicked him his nose.

It didn't harm the kid, but it sure was something the albino hadn't seen coming. All the kid could do was splutter in shock while Hide manhandled him out of his way towards Tsuna.

And if Charlie had once told him dragon noses are very sensitive, well then that had absolutely nothing to do with this.

Really.

"Now, now, Goku-chan." Hide turned back towards the kid with a menacing grin as he threw an arm over Tsuna's shoulder. "Please tell me you weren't trying to separate me from my twin."

"Gokudera-kun." Tsuna actually reprimanded the guy as he opened his mouth to protest.

The albino fumed, but kept his mouth shut.

After anger-issues-Goku-chan, Tsuna somehow recruited the popular baseball kid in their class…By jumping after Yamamoto off the roof after he fell (having just decided suicide is a no-no).

How did that even work?

And how were they still alive?

Hide wanted to ask, but he suspected he would only blame Reborn and that would get him nowhere, so he refrained.

The only other white-haired kid in town joined his brother's new gang as well. (And yes, Hide called it a gang, because even if most of their schoolmates thought this mafia thing was a game, Reborn certainly didn't.) The exercise nut turned out be the older brother of Tsuna's long standing crush, so the girl and her friend started hanging out with them as well. This, of course made Tsuna a nervous wreck, which wasn't productive at all.

Panicky Tsuna was Unpredictable Tsuna, after all.

Reborn even got them to recruit the demon prefect in school, though Hide wasn't sure if any of them knew it. Even Hibari himself might still be in the dark, though he showed up at the most random times…

Tsuna also gained his first fangirl in the weeks after Reborn's arrival, even if the kid was clearly very uncomfortable about the girl's behaviour and the albino bomber got even more territorial than before. If Hide had to guess, Goku-chan and Haru could turn out to be best friends if either of them were just a bit less jealous.

Also it wasn't just the twins and their mother living in the house now. Somehow, the pink haired assassin that had tried to kill Tsuna one day with poison now had a free pass to live with them? Reborn's excuse was that she could tutor Tsuna, but honestly, all Hide saw her do was sunbathe and fawn over Reborn…

There were also three children living with them now.

One was a spoiled crybaby (a crybaby worse than little Tsuna had been) dressed as a cow with an afro big enough to hide a small weapon arsenal in.

Next was a Chinese girl who is apparently a martial artist, even if she isn't five years old yet?

Fuuta was the last one to join them, and he was honestly Hide's favourite. Never thought he'd say it, but Hide had a soft spot for the only normal boy in their now crazy life (yes, even if you counted in the fact that random stuff started floating around the kid, Fuuta was still his favourite).

Which was why Hide is seriously pissed off when Fuuta goes missing, having apparently been kidnapped by some idiot. Reborn could say what he wants, there was no way Hide would let his twin deal with this alone. Screw what some old mafia boss said!


	5. Chapter 5

Damn this place was huge!

And creepy.

He would have liked coming here when the place was still open for business. Even now, he could still see the potential of this place. Or at least, the potential that had once been here. This must have been a great place to have fun. Tsuna had been here once. Nana had wanted to take the both of them here in the last few days of the park, but Hide hadn't understood what an amusement park was, so he had insisted on staying home.

A door opened on his left, making a loud creaking noise as it did so.

Shivers ran down his back, but he couldn't stop a grin from forming.

He really shouldn't be enjoying this so much. Tsuna had said there was trouble, some guy was beating up kids, and Tsuna had to stop him according to Reborn and while Hide wasn't supposed to be here, he wasn't going to let his twin go off alone.

He approached the creepy door and leaned inside.

There was a guy (maybe a year or two older then him) sitting in a broken but still comfy looking chair like it was a throne. His hair was dark and pulled together in a high ponytail. He smirked at the redhead.

Hide looked around.

The guy was alone in the otherwise empty room.

Hide grinned widely and approached the guy confidently.

"Hi there! Bit of a strange place, this. Do you live here?"

The guy observed him and his smirk turned in to a grin of delight. "This is only a temporarily residence. Once my business here is done, we'll be gone as well." The guy sat up straighter and he waved his hand in Hide's direction. Another chair appeared as if conjured out of thin air. "Forgive me for being rude, please have a seat."

Hide grinned in delight and approached to sit in the new addition.

It was real.

And very comfy.

Was this a wizard? Or more like him, with the special flames that looked like magic?

Either way, this just got a whole lot more interesting.

He made himself comfortable and summoned a bottle of pumpkin juice and two glasses from his room (from Georges' latest care package). He handed one over to the other, eyeing the man carefully with a grin.

The guy, who Hide only now saw was wearing an eyepatch, seemed to be paying much more attention now as well. He waved his hand again. "Chocolate?"

And he actually handed over the typical package of a chocolate frog.

Hide grinned in delight again. "It's been ages since I had one. Thank you. Do you collect the cards?"

"Once upon a time, I did."

They grinned knowingly at each other.

So, a fellow wizard? Or another reincarnated soul? What were the odds that they had actually know each other, once upon a time?

Was that even possible?

"I'm sorry, I'm being rude again." The guy said after taking a sip. "My name is Rokudo Mukuro."

"Sawada Hideyoshi." Hide introduced himself.

The eye sharpened again. "Really now? This day just keeps getting better."

"Really? My name is what makes you feel all tingly? I'm more interesting in other ways." Hide grinned.

"Like what?" Dokuro tilted his head.

"Like: are you an actual wizard or do you remember being one and are you using the weird flames thingies to make magic happen?"

"I have knowledge of my last six lives. But more importantly, how did you come to remember? I have to admit I'm very curious." The guy twirled his trident around.

Hide scratched his chin in thought. "I'm not sure…"

"Is there anything still connecting you to that life?" Mukuro insisted.

"Well, I guess I'm still in touch with my once-twin…"

"Once-twin?"

"Yeah, you know, it's how I refer to it: once-twin, once-family, once-magic, or once-life … that sort of thing."

"Fascinating." Mukuro smirked again. "I suppose a twin bond could be strong enough. Especially if only one half died."

Hide shrugged, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the subject.

Mukuro threw him a shrewd look. "Magical twins are rare though. I've only ever heard about one pair in the time I was alive, and last I knew, both were still alive."

"Maybe you died before me." Hide tried to sound casual. "Is that how it works?"

"I have no ideas how the timelines work considering reincarnation. How long ago did you die?"

"Well, if this is the same world? Same year as I got born again. You?"

"Same."

"And you are what? Two or three years older than me? Does that mean you died two or three years before me?" Hide questioned.

"Depends." Mukuro said with a mysterious smile. "How old are you?"

"Just turned fourteen a while ago. Born on 1998." Hide said.

"Then yes, I suppose that math is correct." The kid replied.

"You suppose?"

Mukuro shrugged casually. "I lost track of time while remembering my last six lives. Sue me."

"Urgh, I don't even want to start imagining what that must be like. Once is more than enough."

The purple haired teenager grinned. "It is nice to find someone I'm familiar with."

"I know, right?" Hide tilted his head. "You already figured it out?"

"Well, what can I say? Red really is your colour."

Hide snorted and wiggles an eyebrow. " _Seriously_?" He asked with emphasis.

The guy started laughing in amusement. "Kufufufu!"

"Well, you certainly choose a nice place to settle down, reminds me of your old place."

"Like I said, it is only temporary."

"Why? Too _black_ for you?" Hide couldn't help but snigger.

They both laughed loudly.

"So … Have you figured out if this is the same world as once-before? Because I had been thinking of asking my once-twin to send me a care package. Just to see if we could."

"It is. Japan's magical society just has some very strict rules and it isn't easy to get in as an outsider."

"Huh?" Hide looked puzzled. "Really? Can they visit? What about tourists? And owl post?"

"Owl post should be easier, and visiting is quite difficult. If I remember correctly, there are a whole lot of procedures to go through before one can get approved. Though my information could be out of date. I haven't really bothered to keep up with the magical world in this life."

"Cool, I'll have to find out but we could always try some owl post in the meantime. I'm still not sure what I want him to send me, so there is no rush. I spend the last few years trying to recreate potions without any magical ingredients, so I'm not sure I want him to send me the missing ingredients now…" Hide mused out loud.

"Fascinating, did you have any luck?" Mukuro leaned forward, very interested in Hide's answer.

"Not really. I only got the bruise cream to work," Hide grimaced. "but I don't want to give up just yet. Otherwise those years would be completely wasted."

"You can always ask for some real candy." The once-Black heir suggested casually.

"That is true." Hide smiled at the idea. "I do miss the candy. Don't get me wrong, I love muggle candy! It's very tasty, but muggles sure took all the fun out of eating it…"

"True, there was nothing more boring than picking up a candy and knowing the flavour you'll get."

Hide wiped away an imaginary tear. "Aah, the suspense of eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans… I miss it."

"It's horrible. I can't even make them with my illusions like I do the rest, because then I'd still know what flavour they'd be." Mukuro sneered in disgust.

Hide hummed. "You know, if you taught me more about those illusions, I could help with that. We could then both make a bag and exchange them."

"Or you asked your former twin to send me a pack as well?" Mukuro asked with a raised eyebrow.

Hideyoshi pouted.

The door was flung open behind them and an on-fire Tsuna rushed inside, with Reborn not far behind.

"Hide!? What are you doing here?!" his now-twin screeched in surprise.

"I could ask you the same thing?" Hide asked as he watched his twin in surprise. "Weren't you going to fight the guy who took Fuuta?"

"Weren't you?" Tsuna asked sarcastically as he eyed their little set-up.

"Well yes, but then I met this guy and we started talking. He's just like me!" Hide smiled brightly at his fellow once-wizard.

"He's the guy that took Fuuta!" Tsuna yelled.

Hide faltered. "What?"

Mukuro stood up, materialising an honest to god trident that he pointed at Tsuna. "So, Vongola, you managed to beat all my lackeys?"

"You're the bad guy?" Hide asked still having trouble believing it. "You? _Seriously_?"

Mukuro sighed. "And here I had hoped to leave that pun behind me when I died. No, I am not the bad guy. I am only here to save the poor civilian child who is getting dragged into the mafia unwillingly."

"Hey, Tsuna, that's you!" Hide couldn't help but point out.

Tsuna face palmed. "No it's not. The guy has been trying to kill me for the last hour!"

"Tch, better a swift death now, than a slow and agonising one years down the road. Trust me, I know."

"Whatever dude, you can't kill my now-twin! Not cool!" Hide flung a spare chocolate frog at Mukuro.

It hit the guy in his hair and stayed stuck in his high pony tail.

Mukuro raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the twins, clearly not knowing what a strange sight he made. "Really, this is the new model?"

Tsuna's eyes widened in shock. "You told him?!"

"Well, duh? What did you think I meant when I said earlier that we're the same, him and I? Turns out that we once-knew each other."

"So you just… what? Decided to make up for lost time with some drinks? Now?" Tsuna asked incredulously.

"Yes." Hide smiled brightly, still trying to defuse the situation.

"I can't belief you." Tsuna sighed in exasperation.

Reborn finally intervened. "What exactly is going on here?"

"Hide, hide please." Tsuna yelped as Mukuro charged him.

Hide watched with wide eyes as his clumsy twin expertly deflected the trident with his fancy gloves (and where had those come from?)

"Yes, you should be hiding." Reborn said as he kicked hide in the face. "This is Tsuna's fight."

Hide went down with a groan.

He didn't have time to form a response as chains appeared out of nowhere and enveloped his fellow once-wizard.


	6. Chapter 6

"So… Mukuro just proposed to me." Hide said as he barged into Tsuna's crowded room.

"HIEEE!"

Hide ignored his flailing twin and sat down at the low table Tsuna and his friends had gathered around.

"What?!" the silver haired puppy exploded in shock, while trying to hold Tsuna so he wouldn't hurt himself in his panic.

The white-haired guy roared happily at his proclamation, while Yamamoto laughed brightly. "Congratulations! I didn't know you two were that close."

Hide watched the popular teen with a deadpan look in his eyes. Really?

Reborn actually rolled his eyes as Gokudera had secured Tsuna and hit the baseball player in the shoulder. "You idiot!"

"So, Mukuro gave you a ring?" Reborn asked with a frown.

Hide nodded. "Yeah, he said some homeless guy with a pick axe gave it to him. He didn't want it, so he gave it to me. What is going on?"

Reborn was unusually serious as he explained.

"So Iemitsu is still serious about me not getting involved?" Hide asked in disbelief.

Reborn nodded.

The man had made quite the speech during their first meal together (it also their last meal together, and if their mother hadn't insisted neither of the twins would have been present that first time either).

"Guess that backfired on him." Hide grinned. "But wait a second… Why are these fights being organised? It doesn't really make any sense."

He frowned thoughtfully.

"I don't want to fight! I don't want to be a mafia boss." Tsuna was close to actually crying in frustration.

"No, that I do understand but I don't get why there are suddenly two candidates for the spot. I mean, the old man didn't suddenly get another son, right? So why wasn't that … what was his name again?"

"Xanxus."

"Xanxus? Weird name… but anyway, why wasn't he named heir when his brothers died? Why involve Tsuna at all?"

"The Kyuudaime didn't think Xanxus would be a good successor." Reborn admitted with a grimace. Did he see where Hide was going with this?

"So what? Now he changed his mind?" Hide asked sceptically. "And if so, then why are you still here, Reborn? I'd assume with a new heir, that your services as a tutor aren't required any longer?"

"My contract is still running." The baby reluctantly admitted.

"So what the hell is going on? Because the Kyuudaime can't support two candidates, right? That wouldn't make any sense."

"I know, the situation is very fishy but until we figure out what is going on, we have no choice but to play along. Lots of things could be going on, but backing out is not an option."

Hide sighed as Tsuna screeched again. If they all had to fight in individual fights, he would need to step up his training.

He might even need to ask George to send a special care package, post haste.

"Wait a second… Mukuro? He's back?" Tsuna asked in shock.

"Huh?" Hide asked distracted.

"He escaped Vindice? Again?" Gokudera asked incredulously.

Hide shrugged. "Not really, I don't really understand it, but apparently he got his minions out and he's still in there. He just found a girl who could be his twin and now he possesses her whenever he wants."

"Excuse me?" Tsuna looked at him in disbelief. Hide shrugged again. He had no idea where Mukuro got the idea either.

His once-sister had spent almost a year possessed without knowing, so Hide had made sure to talk to Chrome to make sure she had voluntarily agreed to do this.

"Yeah, somehow she thought it'd be a good idea to let him… I don't understand it eithebut he's been teaching me about those illusions, so…" He shrugged again, with a sheepish smile this time.

Tsuna face palmed. "Why am I surrounded by crazy people?"

"So, can anyone tell me what that homeless person is doing in our living room?" Hide asked as he entered Tsuna's room.

The room itself was strangely empty, only Tsuna and Reborn were there, doing homework. How strange, just a little while ago, this room would have felt crowded with just the twins and their mom in it. Now, after getting used to all of Tsuna's strange new friend, three people made the room feel empty…

"I asked mom, but she wouldn't let me throw him out." He continued casually as he fell down on Tsuna's bed.

His twin didn't look up from his math homework, but he did snort. Loudly.

Reborn stayed silent, content to watch the two boys interact.

"Apparently, that guy is our dad." Tsuna informed his little brother.

Hide startled, nearly falling off the bed. (Huh, so that was how Tsuna kept doing that?) "Really?! I thought he had died years ago."

"Same here." Tsuna shrugged, clearly not bothered.

"You guys seriously thought that?" Reborn said in disbelief.

Hide watched the baby. "Well, yeah but you already knew that. We told you so on the first day you got here. You never confirmed either of our theories, and it's honestly easier to think him dead, than to think he abandoned us."

Reborn cringed at that.

"Why is he here?" Hide asked the baby.

"He's here in his official role as leader of CEDEFF, an independent and secret intelligence organization that still falls under the Vongola Family to oversee the Ring battles."

"Really?" Hide's voice goes quiet. "He's a Vongola leader. Does that mean he's also a Sky?"

Tsuna straightened and eyed his twin. He's never seen such a serious expression on Hide's face before.

Reborn nodded.

"I wish he'd stay away. He obviously made his choice and it shows very clearly where his priorities lie." Hide said sombrely as he watched Tsuna.

"He's a Sky as well?" Tsuna asked in disbelief.

Hide grimaced as both twins realised what that meant. Their father had refused to quit his current job to prevent his innocent civilian son(s) to be dragged into the underworld.

"Yeah, I wish he had stayed away as well." Tsuna muttered bitterly after a few seconds of silence.

They stayed quite for a long time after that.

-0-

Hide felt like cackling as he finally made it to the school. It was already dark out and he had about ten minutes before the time the fight was meant to start.

It was not his fight, but still he'd had preparations to make. He hadn't been there when the Varia had shown themselves and he really wanted to keep whatever advantages he had and if that meant fooling them and messing with Tsuna and his friends?

Well, bonus points!

Slowly and with difficulty he walked into the school. His disguise was a brilliant idea, if he said so himself, but there were some disadvantages…

He wore long wizarding robes, in colours that would have made Dumbledore a very proud man, and a matching pointy wizard hat. He had a long white beard and equally long white hair, that had grown as he had taken an ageing potion.

The problem with ageing potions, however, was that he really felt as old as he looked…

His back was killing him!

He had made himself a walking stick and it was somewhat helping, but he was taking way longer than he had anticipated to get to his destination.

It would all be worth it just to see Tsuna's face!

As predicted his twin seemed ready to die without anyone's help by the time he made it.

The two pink haired ladies he had been told about where there, and their opponents as well.

He cleared his throat, catching all their attention.

"What are you all staring at me? Never seen an old man before?" he snarked at them before he pointed at Dino. "You! Go get me a chair or something to sit on! I hope you don't expect me to stay standing around here the whole time!"

Dino spluttered in confusion. Tsuna and his friends were in much the same state and Hide had to fight not to laugh when he saw realisation dawn on his twin's face.

The Varia eyed him with raised eyebrows, as if they were questioning his sanity at being here. He actually couldn't blame them. That was exactly why he was doing this after all.

Hide sighed dramatically at Dino's flailing. "You know what, you seem like a young brat who'll hurt himself easily and you are too pretty to break your face while fetching a chair."

He pointed at Romario with much flair. "You be a good boy and get me something comfortable to sit on."

The man looked at his boss, not sure what to do. Dino was still staring at him in confusion.

"Come, come, I don't have all day now. I've seen you lug around that gaudy throne for the princess. I'm sure you have a chair fit for an old man somewhere." Hide snarked at the man.

Damn his back really was starting to bother him. He smiled a little as Romario ran off to do as he was told. Good little minion.

"I can't believe you're doing this." Tsuna face palmed.

Hide cackled.

The battle itself was actually quite boring. Ryohei was at a serious disadvantage until he finally managed to land a hit and the moment he landed it, the match was over. But at least Hide had a bit more of an idea of what to expect now.

And Romario had gotten him a nice seat, so that was a nice bonus. Where did the Cavalone family minions keep all these chairs, anyway?

He didn't bother going to the other matches. He needed all the time he could get to train and Mukuro was a hard taskmaster. He wanted Hide to at least have plan A to F before he stepped into the ring. Hide himself wasn't sure how many he would need, but he approached the problem like he would a prank.


	7. Chapter 7

Turned out, he was very good at this.

He arrived at the gym confident in his plan and in his old man Merlin disguise. His pockets filled with the stuff he asked George to send him.

He couldn't wait.

Neither apparently could his once-twin, because the ghost-like apparition had arrived before him. George was already waiting next to his now-twin, distracting him from the wait they had before the fight could start.

Hide made sure to arrive at the last minute, just to be sure Tsuna wasn't given any time to fuss about him.

"Ring battle start!" The two pinkettes yelled in unison.

The baby, Mamon/Viper?, immediately summoned multiple fire pillars that seemed to be bursting from the floor.

Hide could hear Tsuna and his friends yelp in surprise, but Mukuro warned Hide that lots of illusionists like to mess with fire. It was a common fear after all. No one wanted to burn.

But because it was somewhat common, Hide was prepared for it.

"Younglings." He sighed dramatically, still in his role of sassy old man. "Always so impatient."

He reached into a pocket of his robes and launches a piece of Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-bangs that George had send him into the fire. (Thank you, Georgie, for that package! It will come in handy now!)

It spoke for the quality of the baby's fire that the firework actually exploded and formed a giant dragon that terrorised everyone in the gym.

Hearing Tsuna and co. yelling in shock briefly made Hide reconsider whether he should have informed his brother about what he had planned…

Nah.

"Such a waste." George sighed dramatically as he spoke loud enough for everyone in the gym to hear. "He should have kept it until later to celebrate his victory."

Hide grinned at his once-twin.

The dragon flew a whole lap around the gym before dissipating, forcing the spectators to move out of its way. It seemed even the cloaked baby and the Varia weren't sure if it's real or not, because they moved as well.

Score!

Once again Mukuro turned out to be right, combining magic with Mist flames was a brilliant move, and no one ever saw it coming. The baby looked startled and thrown off his game.

His watch started beeping just as the dragon disappears. (It's not made to last long unless someone tries to use magic on it to make it disappear, but it isn't meant to.) Hide made a very dramatic move of checking his watch and hide a grin as the time on the kiddy anime watch he wore for this occasion ran out.

"Oho!" He croaked triumphantly in his old voice. "It seems my magic has finally reached its peak!"

"Magic?" Muttered the cloaked baby sceptically.

"Yes! This is a very special watch!" He laughed crookedly as he shows it off.

He has to bite his lip to keep from joining George in his hysterical laughter while he could actually hear Tsuna face palm all the way over where he was standing.

Poor kid.

Hide had no regrets, because he knew it would only get worse from here on out.

"This watch measures my magic prowess and now, after days of collecting it, I am finally ready to unleash my ultimate move!" he exclaimed dramatically.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Tsuna muttered stoically.

Yeah, his older brother sounded completely done with him.

Hideyoshi grinned at his twin before taking a dramatic pose. He needed to nail the timing now, he'd been working on this for days. He couldn't mess it up now!

"Magic transformation: Rejuvenation!"

Nailed it! He barely had the dramatic magic illusion effects in placthat he had seen in some magical girl/shojo anime, as the ageing potion stopped working and he grew young again. His skin lost its wrinkles, his hair grew back in his scalp (and turned red again) and bit by bit he became his own self again.

A quick mist illusion transformed his colourful outfit as well.

He had hesitated, the magical girl theme had nearly convinced him to go all the way, but he really couldn't see himself wearing a dress… So instead he wore some really short shorts with knee high boots and a sleeveless top. He is dressed solemnly in purple (for his flames) and gold (for old times' sake - Go Gryffindor! – and sue him, it looked good!).

It's good that he's not ashamed of his body, because it was a very revealing outfit.

What he wouldn't do to mess with people…

He timed it exactly right that the moment the transformation is done, he's doing some magical girl-like pose.

There was silence in the gym as he smiled cutely at his opponent.

Well, that's not exactly true. George sounded like he's dying, rolling on the ground in laughter, and Tsuna seems to be trying to bash his head in. He's even using a wall to do it…

"What in the world…" The purple baby muttered in what can only be shock.

Hide dramatically searched through his back pocket (and the Varia sun was gleefully cheering him on for this while others yelled in anger) and took out a very small pouch.

He grinned again as he threw it towards the floating baby, who tries to avoid it.

"What exactly are you trying to accomplish?" The baby asked as the pouch missed him and fell to the floor.

Hide tilted his head cutely, still acting out his cute magical boy part.

"This." The pouch touched the floor, exploded and …. Tada!

Portable swamp!

George cheered for him as they were all accosted by the smell. The baby barely had time to look down at the huge swamp that was almost as big as their gym, when tentacles rose swiftly and wrapped around the Varia Mist guardian. Hide's Mist illusion of the Giant Squid rose from the murky water and while Hogwarts' squid didn't harm anyone, this one was not as peaceful. It squeezed the baby until he/she/it exploded.

Hide pouted, even as a tentacle gentle hands him the second part of his ring on a chain.

His opponent escaped, but Hide wins anyway.

He's not sure how to feel about that, but to keep up the act, he turns towards Tsuna. He adapts a cute pose, and even flashes his twin a victory sign while he cheers. "Yay! I win!"

"I can't take this anymore." Tsuna muttered in defeat.

-0-

After Hide's own battle, only the cloud and sky battle were left.

He didn't go see the cloud battle (no need to provoke Hibari further, not when Tsuna Tsuna needed him. The skylark never found any proof, but he kept trying to bite Hide to death because of the chaos his pranking caused at school, and let's be honest, it's not like the violent teen was likely to lose… but apparently by not going Hide had missed all the excitement.

Turned out, a beaten-up Vongola boss had involuntarily been powering up the robot serving as the Varia cloud guardian.

Huh…

Who would have guessed?

If the Varia had indeed kidnapped the man like Reborn had told him afterwards (the twins were ignoring everyting Iemitsu said to them on principle) then that actually explained why teenagers had to fight experienced mafia members in these stupid ring battles in the first place.

But… really… How had no one noticed the old man had been missing? He'd have to have been gone for what… at least two weeks? Maybe more? And no one had noticed? (Iemitsu hadn't noticed?)

Though Hide really couldn't find it in himself to find any sympathy for the old boss. That guy was the reason they were in this mess in the first place…

The sky battle wasn't any fun. Especially not for Hide and the other guardians. He wasn't sure how Tsuna was doing in his fight with Xanxus (he couldn't bring himself to focus on the little watch screen) but Hide couldn't do much more than lie on the ground in the gym and try to ride out the pain. Apparently, nothing made a boss battle more interesting than poisoning their minions… Where were those pink bitches getting these ridiculous battle ideas?

He could actually feel the poison travelling through his veins as if fire was running through them instead of blood.

Fun times … (long live sarcasm).

He's only vaguely aware that at some point part of the gym roof caved in and the debris fell down ,only barely missing him, which was lucky, because the pain was that bad he couldn't move even if he wanted to.

More explosions sounded in the background and he hoped the others were all right.

God, even breathing hurt!

Was this pain comparable to the cruciatus curse? He'd never been cursed with it, but he was getting an idea of what that might have felt like. On the other hand, did that mean that this pain could actually make him loose his mind? Like the curse had been used against Neville's parents?

He probably blacked out at some point.

Hide only became aware again when the pain started receding and someone was helping him walk. His arm was thrown over their shoulder.

"Go-chan?" he managed to stammer in confusion as he recognized the guy's hair.

Was Tsuna's puppy really nearly carrying him?

"It's almost done." The beaten-up bomber tried to reassure him. "We just need to get to Juudaime and everything will be fine."

Next to them, Sasagawa was caring baby Lambo with Yamamoto right next to them. Together they were all hurrying forward in silence, trying to reach Tsuna as quickly as possible.

They reached the sports field just in time to see the creepy Varia kid (with the grin) putting the sky ring on his boss' hand. Tsuna was crouching a bit further in the dirt. He seemed beaten-up (honestly, they all were) but he was conscious and seemed alright, if exhausted.

Flames in all colours exploded from around the ring. Xanxus exclaimed his victory loudly, only for the flames to turn against him. The man fell down, spitting out blood.

Almost everyone exclaimed in shock.

What was going on?

Hide nudged Gokudera towards Tsuna, and the bomber took the hint.

Tsuna didn't look up when Hide let himself crumble down next to him, he kept his eyes focused on the other Sky, but he did grip Hide's hand. Hide squeezed back.

Hide hadn't been doing a lot, but being in pain was exhausting and all he wanted was to be able to go home and sleep.

"The ring has… rejected Xanxus's blood?" His older twin muttered.

What?

"Muu, what do you know?" demanded the Mist baby. "What do you mean the ring's rejected his blood?"

And then the whole story came out, mostly told by Squalo. (Hide vaguely wondered why everyone seemed to have white hair? Was that a new fashion trend he knew nothing about?)

Xanxus was adopted and thus didn't have any Vongola blood. Both Xanxus and Squalo had known (or at least suspected) that Xanxus could never wear that ring and they had dragged everyone along with them anyway to try it.

"Wait, so you've known for how long you can't actually inherit? What was this than? A tantrum? All these battles the last few days have been completely pointless!" Hide snarled pissed off.

Luckily things were over soon after that.

Xanxus yelled some more, Tsuna yelled back some. The Varia threatened to get them all killed by minions (cowards), but then a guy named Lancia showed up who had taken care of the minions (and who apparently was send via Mukuro) and after that they all went home.

Hide sighed happily as he snuggled into his bedsheets.

Celebrations could wait until tomorrow.

 **THE END.**

 **That's it! At least for now. I might make this into a decent fic one day (and I might even write a sequel), but I'll have to wait for some more inspiration.**

 **Either way, I hope you enjoyed!**


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